"S"According to The Alphabet Abecedarium, "S" is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet and the eighteenth letter of the Roman alphabet. It is descended from the Greek letter "sigma", which came from the Phoenician letter "shin." "Shin" is almost an exact replicate of how the letter "W" looks today. Nerdinger says that "S" is the displacement of split halves of the sun sign (similar to the yin yang) and stood for the summer solstice. Donald Anderson, on the other hand, believes that it descended from a pictogram depicting mountain peaks.
Plato's Cratylus states that the letter "sigma" is expressive of shaking and shock. The Romans were the ones who determined the shape of "S," displaying its changeable nature. "S" has been named "the serpent letter" because it is not of pure and unimpeachable character. Its sound can be likened to the hissing of a red hot poker that has been dipped in water just before falling silent. In Modern English, more words begin with "S" than any other letter. Poets have questioned if and how they should use this letter within their writing. Virginia Woolf wrote, "S is the serpent in the poet's Eden."
Within the Beth-luis-nion alphabet, the letter "saille" ("S"), is associated with the moon, monday, the lunar month (April 15), and the willow which is connected with witches and witchcraft and associated with Satan. In chemistry, "S" is the abbreviation for sulphur. The Romans used it as an abbreviation of salutem, "wishing health."
The meanings of "S" include: to chew, reduce, analyze, grind, crush, and shoot with a bow and arrow. The Mysteries of the Alphabet points out that there is also a "focus on the element of a barrier to the mouth, one that protects the entrance, a gatekeeper that can bite."
When I read that "S" was known as the serpent letter, I found a source image which depicted a snake in the shape of an "S." "S" depicts silence and because it is camouflaged as a snake, giving this idea even more precedence.
"R"The Mysteries of the Alphabet says that "R" comes from the letter "resh," meaning the head or beginning. "Head" conveys the meaning of origin. There were some very interesting quotes concerning the letter "R," within this book, that caught my attention: "living is being born at every moment" and "...men have to die, but they are not born to die they are born to innovate."
The shape of the Hebrew letter "rosh" is taken directly from the hieroglyphic "head seen in profile" wearing a scarf. As time progresses, the scarf disappears as does the nose. As the letter made its transition to the Greek alphabet its direction changed
The derivative meanings of "r" include: brain, cranium, creation, create, begin, summit, head, to preside, to the end, new, first, branching, priority, and genesis. "Rosh," another letter that "R" is connected with, means "venom" and "poison." The Alphabet Abecedarium says that a capital "R" is like the shape of a growling dog's head. The form of this letter was thought to be ideal.
Therefore, I decided to use the image of a growling dogs head and a three dimensional "R" within its mouth to outline the similarity of shape and serve as something that the dog is trying to bite.
"J"
The shape of the Hebrew letter "rosh" is taken directly from the hieroglyphic "head seen in profile" wearing a scarf. As time progresses, the scarf disappears as does the nose. As the letter made its transition to the Greek alphabet its direction changed
The derivative meanings of "r" include: brain, cranium, creation, create, begin, summit, head, to preside, to the end, new, first, branching, priority, and genesis. "Rosh," another letter that "R" is connected with, means "venom" and "poison." The Alphabet Abecedarium says that a capital "R" is like the shape of a growling dog's head. The form of this letter was thought to be ideal.
Therefore, I decided to use the image of a growling dogs head and a three dimensional "R" within its mouth to outline the similarity of shape and serve as something that the dog is trying to bite.
"J""J" is the tenth letter of the English alphabet, but I found out from The Alphabet Abecedarium that "J" is not in the ancient Roman alphabet. It is descended from "I" and thus comes from the Greek vowel "iota" and the semitic consonant "yod." The Mysteries of the Alphabet explains that "yod" is the hand and it is represented by a bundle of papyrus reeds or an extended arm with an upward facing open palm. It means to take, give, sleeve, and extension.
The original pictogram was borrowed from hieroglyphics that used a large number of variations based on the shape of the arm, forearm, and hand. There were depictions of holding bread; strength, force, effort, and violence; stopping; and negation. Canaanite inscriptions show it as a stylized hand while the Greeks reduced it further to three lines articulating the elbow and wrist, meaning to command. "J" is also linked with new life, soveriegnty, and christianity.
I thought it would be interesting to represent the letter "J" by using a hand that is already in the form of "J" in sign language because it is so closely related to the hand. I incorporated what looks like "J" from our alphabet as an arrow that explains the motion the hand must perform in order to sign "J."
The original pictogram was borrowed from hieroglyphics that used a large number of variations based on the shape of the arm, forearm, and hand. There were depictions of holding bread; strength, force, effort, and violence; stopping; and negation. Canaanite inscriptions show it as a stylized hand while the Greeks reduced it further to three lines articulating the elbow and wrist, meaning to command. "J" is also linked with new life, soveriegnty, and christianity.
I thought it would be interesting to represent the letter "J" by using a hand that is already in the form of "J" in sign language because it is so closely related to the hand. I incorporated what looks like "J" from our alphabet as an arrow that explains the motion the hand must perform in order to sign "J."
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